A12 motorway (Switzerland)
Encyclopedia
| Route of the A12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Total Length: ca. 80 kilometres (49.7 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The A12 motorway, an Autobahn in western Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, is a divided highway connecting the A9
A9 motorway (Switzerland)
The A9 motorway, an Autobahn in western Switzerland, is a divided highway connecting from Ballaigues to southwestern Switzerland. It is part of the National Road N9....
to the A1.
The A12 runs from the A9 in Vevey
Vevey
Vevey is a town in Switzerland in the canton Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne.It was the seat of the district of the same name until 2006, and is now part of the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District...
along the Freiburger Alps via Fribourg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
to the A1 in Bern and thus represents an important link to Western Switzerland. The A12 acts as the main route of the Canton of Freiburg and crosses the Canton area in the diagonal of Chatel-Saint-Denis
Châtel-Saint-Denis
Châtel-Saint-Denis is a municipality and district capital of the district of Veveyse in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.The bog and Lac de Lussy are a nature preserve.-External links:* /...
(in the southwest) to the Flamatt in the northeast. Since 1981, the entire highway has been open to traffic. A scenic location on the Lac de la Gruyère
Lac de la Gruyère
Lake of Gruyère is a lake in the La Gruyère region of the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.The reservoir was formed between the cities of Bulle and Fribourg, by building the Rossens Dam on the Sarine river in 1948. The arch dam has a height of 83 m and a crest length of 320 m. The reservoir filled...
is the resting place de Gruyère, with its adjacent hotel.
Route
The A12 travels from the junction of the A9 La Veyre on a plateau (500 m above sea level) over Vevey.During the first 5.5 kilometres (3.4 mi), the highway rises along the eastern flank of the Veveyse up to 820 metres (2,690.3 ft) above sea level and forms a sharp S-curve. This highway section, with an average gradient of 5.8% (and maximum gradients over 6%), is one of the steepest stretches of motorway in the Swiss national road network. After the ascent portion, the canyon of Veveyse de Fégire is crossed by a bridge. Once reaching the plateau of Haute Veveyse, at the foot of the Alps, the road has only small differences in height. The culminating point is located, at an altitude of 866 metres (2,841.2 ft) above sea level, at Weiler Prayoud northeast of Chatel-Saint-Denis. Here are the main European watershed between the Rhone
Rhône
Rhone can refer to:* Rhone, one of the major rivers of Europe, running through Switzerland and France* Rhône Glacier, the source of the Rhone River and one of the primary contributors to Lake Geneva in the far eastern end of the canton of Valais in Switzerland...
with the catchment area of the Veveyse, and passes the Rhine (with the catchment areas of Broye and Sarine).
Lac de la Gruyère
Lake of Gruyère is a lake in the La Gruyère region of the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.The reservoir was formed between the cities of Bulle and Fribourg, by building the Rossens Dam on the Sarine river in 1948. The arch dam has a height of 83 m and a crest length of 320 m. The reservoir filled...
and the heights of the Gibloux to the north. At Gumefens and Avry-devant-Pont there are two Tagbau-tunnels. North of the latter is the most important building of the A12, the approximately 2-km long Viaduc du Lac de la Gruyère, constructed during the years 1974-1979 in a sweeping curve to the western valley side, spanning two short arms of the Lac de la Gruyère.
Afterwards, the highway enters the Molasse
Molasse
The term "molasse" refers to the sandstones, shales and conglomerates formed as terrestrial or shallow marine deposits in front of rising mountain chains. The molasse is deposited in a foreland basin, especially on top of flysch, for example that left from the rising Alps, or erosion in the Himalaya...
plateau of Freiburg Plateau, tackling in several stages a height difference of just over 100 metres (328.1 ft). After the bridge over the Glâne
Glâne (river)
Glâne is a river in the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland....
, the agglomeration of Freiburg in the west and northwest is bypassed through hilly terrain, known before (with another bridge over the Schiffenensee
Schiffenensee
Schiffenensee is an artificial lake formed by a barrage of the Saane/Sarine river in the canton of Fribourg, Switzerland. The barrages at Schiffenen were completed in 1963....
and Pont de la Madeleine, in line to the little hermitage in the sandstone cliffs near the highway bridge), and thus the Sarine gulch crosses the German/French language border.
As a result, the corridor runs through the little reliefs plateau at Düdingen
Düdingen
Düdingen is a municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland.SC Düdingen is a football club based in the town. They currently play in the Swiss 1. Liga, the third tier of Swiss football.-External links:*...
and Wünnewil
Wünnewil-Flamatt
Wünnewil-Flamatt is a municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in the western part of Switzerland.-External links:*...
. With a bridge at Flamatt, which has a gradient of 4%, the road leaves the plateau and reaches the valley of the Sense (river). Thereafter, the A12 runs through the relatively densely populated and industrial and commercial buildings lined Wangental valley, to the western border of the city of Bern. Following is the Southern Bypass of the district Bümpliz, with an almost 1 kilometre (0.621372736649807 mi) long bridge crossing the plateau, before the highway ends at the junction Weyermannshaus into the A1.
Engineering structures
The A12 has, due to the hilly, pre-alpine topography, some different engineering structures, especially bridges. The most significant of which are (in sequence from Vevey to Bern):- Viaduct Fégire: 512 m (1,679.8 ft) long, 90 m (295.3 ft) high
- Tunnel de Gumefens: 340 m (1,115.5 ft) long, Tagbautunnel
- Tunnel d'Avry: 170 m (557.7 ft) long, Tagbautunnel
- Viaduc du Lac de la Gruyère: 2.044 km (1.3 mi) long, 33 piers, piers with a height of 2 to 85 m (6.6 to 278.9 ft)
- Viaduc de la Glâne: approximately 200 m (656.2 ft) long, 40 m (131.2 ft) high
- Pont de la Madeleine (bridge over the Schiffenensee): 320 m (1,049.9 ft) long, a medium storage level of the lake 41 m (134.5 ft) above the water surface
- Bridge Flamatt: 648 m (2,126 ft) long, 4% incline, leading through residential and commercial neighborhoods of Flamatt
- Tagbautunnel Thörishaus: 110 m (360.9 ft) long
- Viaduct Weyermannshaus: 0.912 kilometre (0.566691935824624 mi) long, 10 to 15 m (32.8 to 49.2 ) high
Historical Aspects
The leadership of a motorway, through the Canton of Freiburg, had already been studied in the 1950s decade. Concrete plans on the lines of the first sections have been around since the beginning of the 1960s. The first walked the line between Corpataux Matran and the end of 1963, for consultation, a year later it was followed by the northeastern continuation of the highway to Düdingen. In 1966 and 1967, the sections were sanctioned by the then Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications of the Swiss Federal and soon started to build.On 31 July 1971, with the section of Düdingen Corpataux, the first leg of the A12 was in operation. The city of Fribourg was thus a bypass for transit traffic. It was first created by Matran Corpataux as only one lane, the second lane followed about seven years later. The last section of the A9, between Vaulruz and Vevey, was opened at the end of 1981.
| Opening of the A12 Autobahn sections | |
|---|---|
| Section | Date |
| A1 - Thörishaus | 7 Dec 1977 |
| Thörishaus - Flamatt | 6 Dec 1976 |
| Flamatt - Düdingen | 27 Sep 1973 |
| Düdingen - Matran | 31 Jul 1971 |
| Matran - Corpataux: 1st Richtungsfahrbahn | 31 Jul 1971 |
| Matran - Corpataux: 2nd Richtungsfahrbahn | 14 Jul 1978 |
| Corpataux - Avry-devant-Pont | 31 Oct 1979 |
| Avry-devant-Pont - Vuippens | 23 Nov 1981 |
| Vuippens - Bulle | 8 Nov 1978 |
| Bulle - Vaulruz | 29 Jul 1977 |
| Vaulruz - A9 | 23 Nov 1981 |
The thruway A12 existed from end to end in 1981, as a motorway link between the German-speaking Switzerland and those in western Switzerland. As a result, developed the line from Bern via the A12 and the A9 for Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
on the A1 for approximately 20 years to the main transit route between Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
and Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
. However, the A12, during the winter, was always vulnerable to ice and snow-covered roadways because of the steep gradients and long sections at elevations above 700 metres (2,296.6 ft).
As has been made consistently in 2001, the A1 is also in operation, shifted back some of the traffic on the originally planned as a transit route highway. This is very well documented by the counting stations of Wünnewil and bull (overland routes), which in 2000 were measured in the average daily volume of 29,000 vehicles, 2002 just over 22,000 vehicles (about 20% less than two years before). The highest traffic densities on the A12 were recorded 2004, in the Fribourg area, with an average daily traffic of 29,000 vehicles.
The full opening of the A12 in particular gave the regions of Fribourg and Bones and the structurally Haute Veveyse important economic stimulus and led to the easy accessibility to the tourist region of Gruyère, both from the Lake Geneva region as well as from Berne.
Major engineering works
The following are major construction projects underway along A12:- (none at present)